I'm a big fan of this show and I always defended the episodes prior when gaf would shit on them, but it seems like we're at opposites again with this finale. Now everyone loves the finale but I'm kind of meh'd by it. I was entertained but there were some major writing frustrations I can't get over.
Why is Rick being villainized? He did nothing wrong. Why make him into a dick at all? It's plainly obvious Shane had to go and Rick explained what happened (I'm part of Team Shane btw, he was my favorite character and wish he hadn't died but I get why and it was necessary for story purposes. He did it in self defense, Shane wasn't going to back down. I'm glad they went the extra mile and killed off important characters. It shows that everyone isn't necessarily safe). Lori is the one that should be villainized, and she already is amongst us but the writers seem to be writing her as if we should be sympathizing. Sympathizing with what? An irresponsible clumsy stupid lady that is unwilling to listen to reason? She is absolutely insufferable and I hope both her and Carl die painful deaths in season 3.
Then there's everyone meeting up on the highway. You know, Smallville had Deus Ex Machina in almost every episode, but because it happened so often it became kind of charming. Like it was so bad it was good and you just watched because it's Smallville, but a show like this can't continue to get away with that. How did they all manage to meet up at the same time within what seemed like 5-10 minutes at most within the time frame of the show? After a scene where Maggie and Glenn seem to be in the middle of nowhere together, but 5 min later the whole crew is back together just to prevent Rick from responding to Carl's inane stupidity. Why is Carl such a whiney little cunt? He wonders what's going on and when Rick tries to explain it to him he runs away and cries. JUST STAY STILL AND LISTEN TO REASON. If you can't do that then you shouldn't be shooting a gun at all you little John Wayne wannabe shithead.
Then there was the worst of them all: The supposed need to hunker down and camp and then get gas in the morning. What is this shit. If it was life or death you know everyone could fit in that gray mini van without a problem what so ever. Sit on people's laps, lay in the trunk etc. do what you can. I've seen Guinness world records of 50 Mexicans fitting into Volkswagen beetles. Don't tell me you NEED to camp there the night. This is when I realized people's problems with the writing were real and how they create scenario's that don't make sense just for the sake of increasing 'drama'.
I feel like I'm forgetting some more issues but I can't recall them right now. Why couldn't there be a 2 hour finale? There are lots of shows that do 2 hour premiere's and finale's. This is definitely one that could've used it. Too much rushing, 75% of the show was action which is nice but not much of it felt like it meant anything. I didn't feel like they were ever truly in danger, there's so much open ground and walkers don't move that fast, they could've just kept running but for some reason they stayed around and shot a bunch of zombies just for the sake of entertaining us. It doesn't feel like storytelling it's just action for the sake of it.
With that being said, my positives are:
Andrea being a badass. Rick laying down the law and deciding not to let people run over him anymore. Rick saving Hershel. Daryl being awesome as usual and a nice right hand man staying loyal to Rick, he seems to be the only one there that knows Rick isn't a jerk. Hershel's nice jacket out of nowhere. The barn crumbling set piece. T-Dog getting some lines and action. Glenn coming full circle and hashing things out with Maggie. The katana lady.